Review: The Brightest Night by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Brightest Night is the third installment in Jennifer L. Armentrout’s Origin series. The book picks up where we left off in The Burning Shadow, with Evie, Luc, and their friends arriving in Zone 3, the secret area home to unregistered Luxen, hybrids, and humans. The gang is on the run from Jason Dasher, who they thought was long dead, and Evie is dealing with her newfound Trojan powers, learning to control the Source. But with her newfound powers comes the realization that Evie is part of a larger plan put forth by the Daedalus. 

When bits of her memory return, she realizes horrible truths about her pasts— what she’s done, who she has harmed. It becomes clear that Evie and Luc make up a dangerous duo. She is the Darkest Star, and he is the Burning Shadow. Together, they make up the Brightest Night. Will Evie be able to control her powers before it’s too late, or worse, before Jason Dasher catches up with her? 

Does this description sound vague to you? Well, that is because this book was pretty much about…nothing. The entire book takes place in Zone 3, with very little action until the last twenty pages. The Brightest Night is most definitely the filler book in this series, necessary to piece together details and the overarching evil Daedalus plot. We admit this sounds unappealing, but it was necessary to set the readers up for the next book, which will inevitably lead to an epic clash between Evie and her friends and the Daedalus. 

Don’t get us wrong, there is plenty of amazing romance and character building to make up for the lack of major plot line. We reunited with a lot of our faves from the Lux series, including Daemon, Kat, Dee, and Archer. It was majorly nostalgic and we loved seeing them all interact and piece together the truth behind Evie’s powers and past. It was definitely a group effort, so we understand why JLA needed them all to spend the entire book together in Zone 3. 

The romance was swoon-worthy, per usual. JLA writes the best romances, and Luc and Evie are no exception. They really came into their own as a couple in this book, and Evie was able to peel away some of Luc’s layers. He actually showed genuine emotion *gasp* (which, if you’ve read the other books, then you know this is not the norm for our beloved Luc). We also loved that Evie didn’t take any of Luc’s BS. She is truly a badass, and is never pouty or complaining about her unfortunate past or newfound powers. We also appreciated that she didn’t do anything stupid in this book, which a lot of heroines are prone to doing because they don’t want to bring harm to their friends. Evie stayed put (for the most part) and didn’t get into any stupid trouble. 

While we did find ourselves bored at times, we loved how JLA so intricately connected plot points and characters from the Lux and Origin series, and the standalone, Obsession. The entire Daedalus plot line was epic and we loved seeing the organization’s evil genius play out. We picked up on little details we missed while reading the other companion novels and the connections had us going whoa. 

And that ending! We are pumped for book 4 to release. The last twenty pages were shocking, and it’s so not fair of JLA to leave us hanging like that. 

Bring on book 4! 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️